Social Media in the Classroom

 As a member of the first generation of parents who are forced to navigate the world of social media with their children, I have a host of mixed feelings surrounding the subject of Social Media’s place in the classroom.  Is it beneficial? Harmful? Does it have a place in education at all? 

I came across this interesting article, The Pros and Cons of Social Media in the Classroom by Karen Lederer. https://campustechnology.com/articles/2012/01/19/pros-and-cons-of-social-media-in-the-classroom.aspx#:~:text=Pros%20and%20Cons%20of%20Social%20Media%20in%20the,5%20Social%20Media%20can%20be%20a%20Distraction.%20

 Before Jeff’s class on Technology in Education, I was solidly team ‘no’ in terms of social media in the classroom.  After reflecting on the role technology plays in not only classrooms, but our children’s lives, I am finding myself left with more questions than answers.  I appreciate the way this article details both pros and cons in a non-biased approach.  The con’s list were all things I believe most of us have contemplated before and therefore will not go into detail here, however some ideas on the pros list were things I hadn’t considered.  It made me think of Jeff’s words “We need to prepare children for their future, not our past” and social media will continue to be a large part of their future.  It could likely be argued that Social Media is becoming a main form of communication not just socially, but professionally as well.  According to smallbiztrends.com 77.6% of small businesses market using social media.  Jobcast.net stated that 94% of companies are using social networks to recruit employees and press.careerbuilder.com reported that nearly half of all employers check up on future and current employee’s social media accounts.   These statistics lead me to the conclusion that to prepare students for their future, we can not ignore the impacts of social media and therefore need to determine how it fits into the classroom and how to best educate our students on its use.

 Referenced sites:

https://www.jobcast.net/26-social-recruiting-stats-and-facts/

http://press.careerbuilder.com/2018-08-09-More-Than-Half-of-Employers-Have-Found-Content-on-Social-Media-That-Caused-Them-NOT-to-Hire-a-Candidate-According-to-Recent-CareerBuilder-Survey

https://smallbiztrends.com/2016/12/social-media-marketing-statistics.html#:~:text=GENERAL%20SOCIAL%20MEDIA%20MARKETING%20STATISTICS%3A%2077.6%20percent%20of,41%20percent%20depend%20on%20it%20to%20drive%20revenue.